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Erdogan lashes out at West and Russia for recognizing Armenian killings as genocide

Turkish President Erdogan has slammed the world leaders for recognizing the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide. Erdogan said countries like Germany, France and Russia should first "clean their own stains."

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has strongly criticized the European Union and the US for using the word genocide to describe the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago.

The Turkish president accused Germany, France and Russia of "supporting claims based on Armenian lies."

Erdogan also accused the United States of siding with Armenia, despite the fact that US President Barack Obama stopped short of calling the killings "genocide" and instead used the Armenian term Medz Yeghern (great catastrophe) for the World War I killings.

"The latest countries to speak of genocide are Germany, Russia and France. What happened during the two world wars that had been initiated by Germany in the past century is before our eyes," President Erdogan was quoted by Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency as saying on Saturday.

Demonstrations are being held in several countries to mark the 100 years of Armenian killings

"First, they (Germany, Russia and France) must, one by one, clean the stains on their own histories," he added.

"Hey European Union! Don't offer us any thoughts. Keep them to yourself," Erdogan said.

During the centenary commemorations of the massacre on Friday in Armenia, French President Francois Holland said Turkey must recognize the killings as genocide, while Russian President Vladimir Putin also used the word that Ankara strongly objects to.

Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenian people were murdered around the time of the First World War. Turkey says the victims of the event were merely casualties of war, arguing that the toll has been exaggerated.